Over the past months, I have been working in collaboration with publishing house "Editions Internationales du Patrimoine" on documenting the architecture, interiors and general history of French Embassies around Asia to make dedicated hard-cover coffee table books about each Residence. The first project in this series was done in Seoul, South Korea, in the beautiful brutalist-style building by architect Kim Joong-up.

Raphael Olivier is a professional photographer based in Singapore covering architecture, interiors, lifestyle, hospitality, luxury retail and travel assignments across Asia and beyond.

I was recently commissioned to photograph the new Hyundai Motorstudio building in Seoul, South Korea, designed by Delugan Meissl Associated Architects.

Raphael Olivier is a commercial photographer based in Asia for about 10 years, currently living between Hong Kong and Singapore, and available to shoot architecture, interiors, hospitality, retail and advertising campaigns all around Asia and beyond.

I was recently in South Korea for a commercial architectural assignment, so I decided to arrive a few days early to take some time for myself and walk around Seoul, a city I always love to explore.

Seoul has been developping very fast since its recovery from the Korean war, yet in the 21st century the city has actually turned into a new phase where it's moving away from a boring industrial center and rapidly becoming one of the most trendy cities in Asia.

One of the most visually obvious aspect of this new era is the super-modern architecture poping up everywhere. The city's skyline is turning into a massive futuristic landscape out of science fiction film, and amidst this construction frenzy brutalist architecture is making a huge come-back, with a modern twist. Whether for residential, commercial, institutional or religious buildings, the use of raw concrete, bold shapes and sharp angles is becoming predominant all around the city.

Through this personal study about Neo-Brutalism, I aim to give a small glimpse into the booming architectural scene of Seoul, one of the world's fastest developping city and Asia's rising stars.

Raphael Olivier is a commercial photographer based in Asia for about 10 years, currently living between Hong Kong and Singapore, and available to shoot architecture, interiors, hospitality, retail and advertising campaigns all around Asia and beyond.

This month I had the great opportunity to work in Brazil on a project documenting public transport infrastructures in São Paulo and Belo Horizonte for French engineering company Systra. The aim of the project was to showcase the various mobililty structures the firm has been implementing in those cities, and included a day flying over in helicopter to capture aerial views of larger projects as well as the general urban surroundings and environment.

Raphael Olivier is a commercial photographer living in Asia for about 10 years, currently based between Hong Kong and Singapore, and available for corporate, industrial and aerial photography assignments all around Asia and beyond.

Over the summer, instead of classic holidays, I was lucky enough to join a specialized tour of Pyongyang focusing on architecture and design, with Koryo Tours agency. This was the opportunity for me to explore the beautiful and somewhat "vintage" architecture of the city, which is full of modernist, brutalist and futurist structures.

Singapore is an incredible playground for architects and in the past decade has seen world-class flagship projects coming out of the ground such as Interlace by OMA, Reflections at Keppel Bay by Daniel Libeskind, South Beach by Foster and Partners, LaSalle College of the Arts by RSP Architects, Orchard Central by DP Architects or the icnonic Marina Bay Sands by Moshe Safdie.

Singapore's architecture has succesfully developed into its own distinctive style in a hot tropical climate with lush vegetation, placing environmental integration and preservation at the core of its values. Today Singapore is well recongnised as one of the world's greenest cities and as a pioneer in renewable energies, with buildings integrating natural cooling systems, reflective surfaces, open air spaces, cascading gardens and smart landscaping with easy access to parks, water, public transport and outdoor activities facilities.

Here are a few of these projects I recently photographed, and will be back in Singapore soon to continue documenting urban design and architecture. Feel free to get in touch with me for more information or shooting request.

Raphael Olivier is a commercial photographer based in Asia for about 10 years, currently living between Hong Kong and Singapore, and available for assignments around the region including architecture, interiors, luxury events, hospitality, advertising campaigns and more.

I recently completed a personal project about Ordos, Inner Mongolia, mostly known as China's largest "Ghost Town".

Ordos is actually a regular provincial city located in the Gobi Desert region of Northern China, home to about 1 million people, and sitting on one of the richest land in the country with plenty of natural ressources such as coal, gas and rare earth metals. So rich that in early 2000's the local government decided to invest massively in the creation of an all new city, a "New Ordos", about 1 hour south from the Old Ordos. This new city would become a flamboyant political, cultural and economic center for the region, featuring state of the art infrastructure and world class architecture. A futuristic new capital of the North East, designed from scratch and meant to host over a million souls. Unfortunately this heavy investment coupled with poor planning resulted in very high property prices, so much that nobody actually moved in, leaving the city totally empty and abandoned. This phenomenon was well covered by the international press and made quite a few headlines world-wide.

Years later, I decided to visit Ordos to see what had become of the infamous city, documenting this unique decaying built landscape with a purely architectural approach. This series "Ordos - A Failed Utopia" was well received by the photography community and circulated widely online with features in several well respected blogs and magazines such as Archdaily, Dezeen, Fubiz, Digital Rev, Tech Insider, Business Insider, Wonderful Machine, Lost at E Minor and a few others.

Another great event set built by Bureau Betak, the Dior Exhibition at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, South Korea. Together with the other photographers from Propaganda Studio, we covered the entire venue showcasing the architectural features of the site, emphasizing the scale and luxury feel of all installations.

Photo documentary about the construction of Ports 1961 event set in Hong Kong, designed and built by Bureau Betak. The venue was a large open concrete structure set on the rooftop of a ferry pier, overlooking Victoria Harbour. I was assigned to capture behind-the-scene moments to showcase the various challenges involved in the making of such a set, as well as architectural views of the completed structure in its context, the way it was used for the event, and how people interacted with the space.

Raphael Olivier is a commercial photographer based in Asia for about 10 years, currently living between Hong Kong and Singapore, and available for assignments around the region including architeture, interiors, luxury events, hospitality, advertising campaigns and more.